Decided to un-hide one chapter. Rereading this makes me want to puke rainbows. T__T Crappy chapter is crappy. Sorry!

 "That Bom is a strange one," I overheard Mrs. Hyori saying to another teacher...

   I was conceived on the rooftop on my appa's large country house under twinkling stars. They were soul mates and were each other's first love. Those all according to my umma. And whenever she thought of it, she always wondered what went wrong.

   Hee Sun and Teddy Park loved each other more than ever when both found out that umma was 3 months pregnant. Appa was so excited back then that he actually bought a mansion on top of a hill somewhere in France. I can't remember where exactly the house stood, since I was just a little, innocent, clueless girl when we moved back to Korea. Emphasizing the word we, I mean only umma and I. What about appa? To tell the truth, I do not know.

   Days just after my 2nd birthday, appa disappeared. He left behind a letter. The letter stated that he loves umma and me. He loves us so much to the point that he was sorry. There was no other explanation. He just vanished like dust from our lives.

   My mom was shocked and went on crying for weeks. She did her best to gain any information about appa's whereabouts for his sudden disappearance. She even searched for him with the help of the authorities, but to no avail. She became weak, desperate and was so miserable. Props to her still because she hid her tears and forced fake smiles to show that she was okay whenever she was around my presence. But I still heard her sobs every night.

   I found it sad that umma and me actually never got to meet my halmoni and halpoji on appa's side. Umma said that they didn't like her for appa. They judged her even when they haven't even met, more so, haven't even seen each other yet. Appa being protective never liked the idea of umma meeting his family anyway. So it was really another disappointment.

   Of course, I met my relatives on umma's side and they knew about appa leaving us. Halmoni always insisted that we go back to Korea at once but umma said she'll wait for appa because she knows he'll come back.... soon. We went on staying in France for a year, just the two of us.

   Until then, halpoji was very sick and dying and so, his last wish was for us to go back to Korea and start anew. Umma who loved her father very much and thought that starting a new life was probably the best option, she complied. Then and there, we went back to Busan. Before appa died, he made umma promise to stay and let me grow here in Korea. 

   As you can see, I was 2 when we went back to Korea. Oh, I in fact do not remember all of these. Gosh, I'd be called a genius for having a great memory if I did. Umma reminded me these bits of information because I needed it once for writing class. We were asked to write stuffs about our family, family histories, et al. I am too much of a lazy head to do homework, but oh well I needed to pass. I wanted to finish school already and no way would I like to repeat middle school back then.

   As I was saying, Umma finally had a job after processing some papers and stuff with the help of her girlfriends. I don't know. Uhm, like I even need to know, duh. She then met this Mr. Kim Dong Wan during one of her business trips. It must've been fate because he was umma's childhood friend and classmate when they were still in preschool. He was a Korean businessman from Seoul. I really like Mr. Kim. He was so nice to me. He always played with me whenever we got to see each other. To the extent, he even spoiled me with everything a young girl would ask for when I was still a kid. Umma would even sometimes scold him for pampering me too much. She said I should be simple and all. But of course, Mr. Kim was a cool guy and had his ways to sneak in. 

   They were best of friends for almost 2 years. Like a drama show, as expected, Mr. Kim had romantic feelings for umma. Umma on the other hand was like sort of. I can't blame her. Appa's a good match in heaven and duh, he's still her husband and the father of her child. Mr. Kim, being the patient and loving guy that he was said that he'll wait. Then as cliché as it seems, of course umma remarried. So uhm, I was 2 plus 2 years. I was 4 when they married each other. And we moved to Seoul. I now call Mr. Kim, ‘dad’. Well, my appa will always be my appa so I guess it's better to use the English term, neh? Dad understands anyway that even when they're married, umma still has this special place for appa in her heart and he's still the one she loves dearly. 

   Wow, now I have a happy family again.
 

   Everything changed when she gave birth to the annoying, obnoxious, redhead boy. He's a real troublemaker. I call him Pesky Maknae. How could she? How could she destroy all the happy days of my life? The happy nights of watching cartoons? Now she went to bed early, and that creation that my parents called "Ryeowook" cried and fussed all night. I was suddenly alone. It was Ms. Piggy and Kermit—the Ms. Piggy and Kermit on TV—that kept me company while umma slept, Pesky Maknae wailed, and dad changed scary diapers in the darkness.

And if that wasn't bad enough, without notice, they sent me to a place that wasn't my house, that didn't have 3-D landscape paintings, but boring collages of kids' handprints, ABC and number cutouts and ugly animal posters. Who decorated this hideous place? I wondered. It was crammed full with G-market catalog girls in ruffled dresses and G-market catalog boys in tapered trousers and perfectly brushed hair. Umma and Dad called it "kindergarten."

   "They'll be your new playmates," my umma reassured me, as I clung to her side for dear life. She bade good-bye and blew me kisses as I stood like a loner next to the matronly Mrs. Hyori, which was as forever alone as one can get. I watched my mom walk away with Pesky Maknae on her hip as she took him back to the place full of glow-in-the-dark posters, Ms. Piggy and Kermit movies, and Uksusu.

   Somehow I made it through the day. Cutting and pasting yellow paper on green paper, finger painting Barbie's lips green, and telling the assistant teacher my corn fantasies, while the G-market catalog kids chasing each other around like they were all cousins at an all-Korean family picnic. I was even happy to see Pesky Maknae when umma finally came to pick me up.

   That night she caught me with my lips smooched against the TV screen, trying to kiss Jo Hyun Jae in Forbidden Love.

   "Bom! What are you doing up so late? You have school tomorrow!"

   "What?" I said. The sweet buttered corn that I had been eating fell to the floor, and my heart fell with it.

   "Why? But I thought it was just the one time? Dad said so," I said, panicked.

   "Sweet, witless Bommie. You have to go every day!"

   Every day? The words echoed inside my head. It was a life sentence!

   That night Pesky Maknae couldn't hope to vie with my dramatic wailing and crying. As I lay alone in my green bed, I prayed for eternal darkness and a sun that never rose. Alas, I awoke to a blinding light and a monster headache the next day.

    Halfway through kindergarten I tried to become alone. At a young age, I wanted to find where I belong… the dark side. Well not necessarily involving vampires and werewolves. I don't believe in those kinds of stuff. What I wanted was adventure, gangster, swagger, badass experiences. Someday, I'll find my dark prince. I always thought. 

   Kwon Jiyong, a perfectly combed dark haired kid with weak brown eyes, was my nemesis from the moment I stared him down when he tried to cut in front of me on the slide. He hated me because I was the only kid who wasn't intimidated by him. The kids and teachers acted obsequiously towards him because his father owned most of the land their houses sat on. Jiyong was in a biting phase, not because he wanted to be some kind of fictional vampire, maybe, but just because he was mean. He had bitten bits of flesh out of everybody excluding me. And I was starting to get pretty much irritated!

   We were on the playground, standing by the basketball ring, when I tweaked the skin of his feeble, cadaverous little arm so hard I thought blood would spurt out. His face turned bloodshot red. I stood motionless and waited. Jiyong's body trembled with rage, and his eyes swelled with vengeance as I roguishly smiled back. Then he left his dental impressions in my psyched hand. Mrs. Hyori was forced to sit him against the school wall, and I happily danced around the playground, waiting to transform into a dark gothic princess.

   "That Bom is a strange one," I overheard Mrs. Hyori saying to another teacher as I capered past the crying Jiyong, who was now going ballistic, having the tantrum of his life as he kept on hitting the hard blacktop. I blew him a grateful kiss with my bitten hand.

   I wore my wound, gratified as I got on the school swing. I needed something to take me into a twist speed. The seat went as high as the top of the fence, but I was aiming for the heavens. Actually, till the clouds that were as puffy as my chubby cheeks. The rusty swing started to buckle when I jumped off. I planned to fly across the playground—all the way to a startled Jiyong. Instead I nosedived to the muddy, earth doing further damage to my tooth-marked hand. I cried more from the fact that I didn't possess supernatural skills like Jo Hyun Jae on TV than because of my pulsating flesh.

   With my bite under ice, Mrs. Hyori sat me against the wall to rest while the mollycoddle, snot-nosed Jiyong was now free to play. He blew me a teasing kiss and said, "Thank you, Bom-yang." I stuck out my tongue and jibed him a name I had heard a gangster say in City Hunter. That was the best I could do. Mrs. Hyori immediately sent me inside. I was sent, well no, actually more like dispatched inside a lot during my childhood recesses. I was fated by destiny to take a recess from recess.
 

   Kindergarten . Kwon Jiyong . No. Until now he still  and my life?  It too, still . 
 

   Welcome to my y life! I’m Park Bom, by the way; Bommie for a longer nickname. Do excuse me for my constant ranting, abnormal spacing out and random use of foul words. You see, I'm just a rainbow!  

edited: 04/11/12

Words: 1,877

Author's Note: How's this so far? Who would've thought Bommie and Jiyong were childhood sweethearts enemies? Plus, Bommie and Ryeowook are both natural redheads. Of course it's fiction that's why I say the 2 are natural with red locks. :)